One Hundred Proposals Page 5

Harry leapt up and masterfully started turning levers and looking like he knew exactly what he was doing.

  ‘Can I help?’

  He shook his head and, trusting he was going to do something to save us, I returned my attention to Frank. He was still breathing but with great difficulty. He was obviously in a lot of pain.

  I was panicking wildly, and not just about our impending doom. I racked my brains for any first aid knowledge that could help Frank. Should I put him in the recovery position, perform CPR, lie him down with his legs in the air, his knees up to his chest, should I get hot water and towels?

  Would the air ambulance get here in time to save Frank? Would they end up shipping all three of us to the hospital after our crash to the ground?

  ‘Shit Suzie, we’re coming in to land. This is it. Hold on – it’s going to be rough.’

  I grabbed a rope on the side, crouching over Frank to try to protect him. To my surprise, Harry’s body was suddenly round mine – protecting me and Frank in a solid cage.

  The basket hit the ground hard, jolting my head back into Harry’s… and everything went black.

  Chapter Four

  My eyes snapped open and I blinked against the glare of the blue sky. Frank.

  I tried to sit up but a strong hand pushed me back. ‘Stay still, you banged your head pretty hard.’

  I looked up into Harry’s face, silhouetted against the bright morning sky. ‘What about Frank?’

  He pointed over to the far side of the field where the paramedics were helping Frank onto the air ambulance.

  ‘He actually seems fine. I don’t know whether it was the shock of landing so hard or whether it wasn’t even a heart attack to start with, but after we landed the pain just seemed to go away. He even had enough strength to shout at his boys to make sure the balloon didn’t get caught up with the burners. He didn’t even want to go to the hospital, said it was a whole lot of fuss for no reason, but they’re taking him anyway just to be on the safe side. I’m more concerned about you.’

  ‘I’m fine.’ I sat up and Harry helped me. As I looked at him, I realised he had two clumps of bloodied tissues stuck up each nostril. I reached out to touch his cheek. ‘Are you ok, did I do that?’

  ‘Yes, well more specifically the crash did it. It’s ok, just wouldn’t stop bleeding.’

  One of the paramedics came running over, having safely instilled Frank in the helicopter.

  ‘You’re awake.’ He knelt down next to me and shone a light in my eyes. ‘Any dizziness or pain?’

  I shook my head. I felt a bit sore but I’d had worse headaches than this before.

  ‘Well, there doesn’t appear to be any concussion but just keep an eye on her for the next few hours. If she starts feeling dizzy or blacks out again – take her to the A&E straight away.’

  Harry nodded solemnly, though I couldn’t take him seriously with his bloodied tissues sticking from his nose.

  The paramedic returned to the helicopter and as soon as Frank’s sons climbed on board, the helicopter took off, flying over us and then disappearing into the hills.

  The two other men that worked for the company were just loading the already packed up balloon into their car and the trailer.

  ‘Where’s Badger?’ I asked.

  ‘His balloon apparently landed in another field. They’re just going to get him now. So as proposals go…?’ Harry trailed off, embarrassed.

  ‘Well a near death experience is definitely adrenaline filled. My heart was pounding, there was close, physical contact. It’s not a proposal I’m likely to forget.’

  Harry laughed.

  ‘In all seriousness, the banner was beautiful, it must have taken you ages.’

  ‘I didn’t actually see it before Frank keeled over. Did you take some photos?’

  ‘Here.’ I yanked my phone from my pocket and showed him the photos. His face fell.

  ‘It’s upside down. Oh I’ll kill him.’

  ‘It’s an easy mistake to make.’

  ‘I don’t care, I’m going to kill him. So apart from the near death experience and that your proposal was upside down, would it have been the perfect proposal?’

  ‘I loved it – the scenery, the views, the champagne, the banner, that anyone would go to that much trouble to propose to me would be amazing. If you wanted a real reaction, I think you would have got one.’

  Harry scowled and then stood up and helped me to my feet. ‘Come on, let’s go home.’

  Proposer’s Blog

  Day 3: The Hot Air Balloon Proposal. Location: Over the fields of Hertfordshire.

  I know the consensus will be split down the middle here, with half of you thinking ‘Awww, a hot air balloon proposal, how romantic,’ and the other half thinking ‘how clichéd, he might as well do it on top of the Eiffel Tower if he’s going to trot out these old fashioned proposals.’ I’m not sure where Suzie stands on this issue. I knew she had always wanted to go in a hot air balloon, and I want to make her dreams come true, but ultimately I know she’s looking for something unique. So I tried to balance this out with my proposal written on a hand painted banner as we floated majestically above the sun-kissed fields. It was perfect. Well, at least in my head.

  Things started well, better than well actually. When Suzie realised she was going hot air ballooning, she threw herself into my arms, shouting for the entire world to hear how much she loved me. Now for all you would-be proposers out there, I imagine hearing the words ‘I love you’ are quite pivotal when you’re about to propose. Who would have thought it – Suzie Mackenzie, champion of the extraordinary proposal, was won with a simple hot air balloon proposal. She really is an old romantic at heart.

  But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it going in the direction it went next. For one, my beautiful proposal was upside down thanks to the uselessness of my ex-friend Badger. For personal reasons, I can’t tell you how badly it went wrong after that – matters beyond anyone’s control.

  But Suzie did seem very impressed by the amount of effort involved in this one. I don’t think a proposal has to be expensive, but the amount of effort involved is clearly, in the eyes of the woman anyway, directly proportional to how much the man loves them. Obviously this is the way I’m going to have to go from now on.

  I finished reading the blog. Harry had rewritten it three times. There was so much we couldn’t put in. We couldn’t possibly damage the reputation of Carlton Balloons for something that was quite clearly not their fault. How many people would want to book balloon flights with them if they knew there was the possibility of crashing? Frank had been flying balloons for around sixty years. He had a spotless record, and many customers commented on how gentle the landings were in comparison to other balloon pilots. There was no way we could tell the truth.

  We had heard back from Frank’s family a few hours before and he was fine. The doctors were keeping him in overnight to do more tests, much to Frank’s annoyance, but his son said they were confident that he’d be allowed to go home tomorrow.

  ‘Is it ok?’ Harry asked, after returning with two teas from the kitchen.

  ‘It’s fine, but I don’t know about the extra effort thing. As we said yesterday, the small proposals are sometimes the best.’

  ‘I thought you would like it, it might encourage our customers to go with some of our more extravagant proposals.’

  I smiled. After my moaning the day before about how many basic packages we had sold, Harry was trying to rectify it.

  ‘Oh, so this hundred proposals is all tactical then, it’s not about finding me the perfect proposal at all, it’s just a business stunt?’

  Harry completely missed the tone of my voice. I was joking, but his face fell and the look of hurt on his face was like a punch to the gut.

  ‘Is that what you think?’

  ‘I was joking, I’m sorry – I didn’t mean it.’

  ‘This wasn’t about the business at all, I thought you knew that.’

  ‘I honestly don’t know
why you’re doing all this. No one has ever gone to this much effort for me before and I don’t understand why you are?’

  He stared at me and it was clear that he didn’t want to say why. I waited, watching him.

  ‘I wanted to cheer you up. You’ve been so down since Jack died, I wanted you to have something to look forward to every day.’

  I felt like I’d just been hit by a bus. My lip wobbled, an actual wobble, and I looked away as tears filled my eyes. Harry quickly moved to hold me. Again. It was not actually possible to love this man more than I loved him right now.

  ‘Oh God, Harry,’ I whispered into his shirt, as he held me tight against him.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.’

  ‘They’re happy tears, I promise.’ I pushed him gently away and he stepped back to look at me with concern. ‘I’m just lucky to have you.’

  He smiled, with relief, then moved to look at his computer, clearly embarrassed.

  ‘Sixty-one followers on our blog so far. That’s amazing.’

  I smiled at the change of subject.

  ‘That’s fantastic.’

  ‘Yes. And after mentioning Nadia’s Bakery in yesterday’s blog, I’ve had emails from quite a few places begging us to use them in my next proposal.’

  I moved closer as he scrolled through his emails.

  ‘Anything interesting?’

  He quickly minimised his email screen. ‘Nosy aren’t you. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.’

  He logged off his computer and any hints at what was to come vanished into a screen of blue. He checked his watch and pulled on his jacket.

  ‘Hot date with Sexy Samantha tonight?’

  ‘No, I’m meeting Badger for drinks and a few games of pool. Any hot plans for you?’

  ‘Dinner with my lovely sister-in-law.’

  ‘Excellent, have fun.’ He planted a quick kiss on my cheek and left. If this goodbye kiss was going to become a regular feature, I could get used to it.

  *

  A splat of something green and foul-smelling hit the side of my cheek.

  Bella giggled and laughed as the green mush slid down her face too.

  ‘Is your niece causing a mess again?’ shouted Jules from the kitchen.

  I scooped Bella up out of the chair and plonked her on my lap, hoping to minimise the splatter damage if I was behind her. ‘No she’s just perfect, aren’t you, pumpkin.’

  Bella chuckled and wiggled her legs as I wiped her face and firmly took the spoon from her sticky grasp. I leaned into her soft, warm head as I spooned up some more of what Jules had told me was pureed broccoli and cauliflower. She smelt amazing, like milk, talcum powder and baby lotion. Her hair was dark just like Jack’s, the same nose, the same eyes, the same chin – there was no getting away from the fact that she was his daughter.

  Jules walked in carrying two glasses of wine and passed one to me. She was wearing a bright yellow top today, one that I hadn’t seen on her before. Her hair was freshly dyed with warm honey coloured highlights and she was actually smiling. It had been a long time since I’d seen her smile. Maybe she’d been given a proverbial kick up the bum as well as me. I liked it, life was for living.

  ‘You look good.’

  ‘I feel good. Bella’s sleeping properly at night now and she is such a delight during the day. And I know I shouldn’t be glad of this, but Jack’s insurance money has meant that I haven’t had to rush back to work. I get to spend all day with her and I love just being a mum. Jack didn’t want me to work again after she was born anyway, so he’d be happy that I’m taking care of her.’

  ‘You’re doing a wonderful job, she’s such a happy child.’

  Jules smiled fondly at Bella, smoothing out her wayward locks. Her eyes moved to mine.

  ‘You look happy too. How’s Harry?’

  I failed to see how the two were connected. ‘He’s good, gave me a good talking to yesterday about not clinging to the past, hence I’m back to my colourful clothes again.’

  ‘I’ve always loved your sense of style, or lack of it.’ She smirked mischievously. ‘And I hear he proposed.’

  Back to Harry again. ‘Not properly.’ I laughed at the thought. ‘Just, you know, business.’

  She peeled a banana and passed it to Bella’s eager hands. ‘I like Harry.’

  ‘I like him too.’ I jiggled Bella on my lap, deliberately trying to avoid Jules’s eyes.

  ‘And you two have never…’

  ‘No not at all, never. We’re friends. He doesn’t see me like that. Plus his reputation with women is hardly squeaky clean. He used to be with a different woman every week. The man’s a complete tart.’

  ‘Maybe he’s just looking for the right woman. Jack was the same, you know that. Famously sleeping with two different women on the same night.’

  ‘Whoa, I knew he had lots of girlfriends, I didn’t realise he’d had a threesome.’

  Jules spat out her wine and Bella giggled, blowing raspberries with her own lips.

  ‘Not a threesome. Just slept with one girl, she broke up with him and by the end of the night he was in another woman’s bed.’

  ‘How do you know this?’

  ‘I was the other woman.’

  I felt my mouth fall open. ‘And didn’t it bother you that he’d been with someone else hours before?’

  Jules shrugged as she mopped up the wine. ‘He wasn’t anything serious, not for me. And his ex-girlfriend at the time was a complete cow so I was just pleased to get one over on her. Then we started seeing each other, just the odd night here and there, and then those odd nights became every night. He didn’t look at anyone else after that.’

  ‘Weren’t you worried, that he would stray?’

  Jules smiled hugely. ‘I don’t want to sound big-headed, because the feeling was entirely mutual, but I could see your brother was head over heels in love with me. That look never faded in all the eight years we were together.’

  I smiled.

  ‘Harry’s probably the same. He’s looking for The One.’

  ‘I don’t think he is. He doesn’t actually believe in love or The One.’

  ‘Oh that’s rubbish. I know he was hurt badly when he was a kid, and he’s holding back from falling in love in case he gets hurt again, but when he finds the right woman, he’s never going to let her go.’

  I felt myself go very still.

  ‘What do you mean, he was hurt as a kid?’

  Jules went very pale. ‘I thought you knew.’

  ‘He told me he didn’t believe in love, not long after we first met. I thought he’d just come out of a painful break up. What do you know that I don’t?’

  Jules turned away and started picking up Bella’s toys. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything. You and Harry are so close, I thought you knew.’

  ‘He hasn’t really told me anything about his past. I know he doesn’t speak to his parents.’ I swallowed. ‘Did they hurt him?’

  ‘No, he wasn’t beaten or abused, it wasn’t like that. It’s not my place to say. I only know because Badger accidentally let it slip to me once. Just forget I said anything.’

  As if I could. Although I didn’t feel I could push Jules into telling me. If Harry wanted me to know then he would have told me.

  Jules threw the toys into a big chest and picked up her wine glass, swirling it around and studiously staring at the contents. ‘You know he was offered a job.’

  My wine got stuck in my throat and I coughed to release it. She seemed very caught up on her gossip, especially Harry gossip.

  ‘Where, when?’

  ‘Last week. It would have paid very well. I don’t know what you’re paying him but I doubt it would come close to this. Company car, pension plan, private health care plus lucrative shares in the company.’

  I gaped. ‘He doesn’t like big companies and office politics. He’s always said he’d never go back to working somewhere like that. Remember that job he turned down in America?’

&nb
sp; ‘His dream job?’

  ‘It wasn’t his dream job.’

  ‘He sure did talk about it for months, about how excited he was.’

  It was true that when Harry first came into my life there was a big plan to move to New York and the great job he was going to be starting out there. But one day he’d told me he’d had second thoughts.

  ‘Apparently people weren’t happy with the merger that was taking place and the new CEO. He didn’t want to get involved in all of that. As I said, he doesn’t like office politics.’

  ‘Didn’t he cancel the contract around the same time that Jack died?’

  Words dried in my mouth. No. He couldn’t possibly have cancelled the contract because of me, to be there for me. Not if it really had been his dream job.

  ‘I’m just saying, he keeps being offered these fabulous opportunities and he keeps turning them down. His Connected money isn’t going to last him forever, especially considering how generous he is with it. It would be hard to turn down that kind of salary.’

  ‘What kind of salary?’

  She told me and I felt the blood drain from my face – it was nearly five times what he was on with me.

  ‘So the question is, why would he stay?’

  ‘He likes working for our company. It’s his now too, he’s built it up to what it is.’

  ‘Ok, I can see he would have some kind of loyalty towards you and the company, but I think there’s another reason.’

  She stared at me, her pale blue eyes unblinking.

  ‘Well it’s not me is it?’

  She stared at me. Thankfully, then the timer on the oven went off indicating our pizza was cooked.

  Jules smiled as she got to her feet. ‘Just think about it.’

  She went into the kitchen. As if I could do anything but think about it.

  *

  I sat on the tube, staring at my bag, feeling the envelope burning through the leather onto my lap. My mind had been filled with Harry all night, and why he would turn down such an opportunity and the job in America, but all thoughts of him had been wiped clean when Jules handed me this envelope at the end of the evening.